Skyfall
by small sin
Summary: Harry makes a new friend that takes his life in a different direction. Independent!Harry Strong!Harry


Lana 'Missy' O'Connell stared blankly ahead as she ate her breakfast. It was well into the first few weeks of her third year and she was probably the least happy student at Hogwarts. Missy was a bit of a social outcast to put it lightly. Not only was she in Slytherin, which automatically shut her off from the other three houses, but she didn't exactly put any effort into winning over her housemates.

The sudden quiet of her housemates snapped her out of her daze. Looking up she was met with the sight of a smiling Luna Lovegood. "Good morning Missy. If you sit there for much longer you'll be late for class."

Missy looked around and was surprised to see how few people were left in the great hall.

"Thank you Luna that was considerate of you." Missy told the girl slowly, but not unkindly. Luna smiled wider before skipping off to her first class. Laughing quietly at her refreshing morning, Missy grabbed her bag and left for her first class.

Charms passed by quickly as usual, followed by an equally fast transfiguration class. Finally it was time for defense against the dark arts. Every year Missy hopes for a competent teacher in Defense, which happens to be her favorite class. This year just might be the year.

Walking into class alone, she quickly surveyed the chaos around her. The tables normally used for Defense Against the Dark Arts were now lining the walls. The only furniture in the room appeared to be a perfectly normal bureau in the very front of the room. Curiosity overcoming her, Lana turned to the person closest to her and asked,

"Do you know what this is all about?" Of course, with her luck she hadn't noticed that she was talking to the most notorious Slytherin Hater in all of Hogwarts.

_Ronald Weasley__**:**__ Gryffindor third year with a Don Juan complex, relies on friend Hermione Granger to pass his classes for him, terminally ginger._

He faced her with a disgusted scowl on his face and bit out,

"Of course I do, I'm not stupid. Why don't you go back to your death eater friends?" He nodded towards the rest of her Slytherin classmates and it was all Lana could do not to hex his arrogant face in. Instead she found a spot on the wall away from both Slytherins and Gryffindor's. She watched impassively as her fellow classmates gossiped about each other. Only four more years and she'll be far away from all the prejudice and immaturities that is school. _Hopefully on a beach coast with no magic_, she thought with a wistful sigh.

Lana was pulled from her daydream with the emphatic arrival of Professor Lupin. Curiosity filled her again as the usually calm professor exuded an excited yet nervous attitude.

"Welcome class. Today we will be doing some hands on work. Who can tell me what a Boggart is?" Professor Lupin addressed the class and Lana was slowly overcome with dread. Boggarts, according to _Magical Creatures and Where to Find Them,_ are amortal shape-shifting creatures that take on the form of the viewer's worst fear.

_Hermione Granger: Gryffindor third year, resident bookworm with a guilt complex and a penchant for brown nosing._

Granger repeated Lana's thoughts verbatim.

"Very good Miss Granger, ten points to Gryffindor. Now, the boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears." The class was silent for a moment, wondering no doubt what their biggest fears were. "Alright everyone, form a single file line in front of the wardrobe. Good, now the incantation to combat a boggart is Riddikulus, and you will wave your wand like so. The incantation and wand movement alone will not get rid of the boggart. It will simply transform the illusion into something comical; the laughter it produces will get rid of it quite effectively. Alright Mr. Longbottom, what do you fear?"

_Neville Longbottom: Gryffindor third year, extremely forgetful and has confidence the metaphorical size of Ronald Weasley's IQ_.

He was unfortunate enough to be at the front of the line, and took a moment to just stare at the dresser as if it were a dragon. He managed to stutter out a quiet, "Professor S-snape."

The Slytherins chuckled, but were too anxious to make any scathing remarks. Professor Lupin carried on as if nothing was amiss.

"Alright Mr. Longbottom, picture something humorous in your mind and when I open the chest you will think of it very clearly in your mind, and repeat the incantation I just showed you. Ready?" But of course he didn't get a chance to answer as the professor quickly lifted the lock off the chest. Everyone watched anxiously, waiting to see what would happen. Before our eyes Professor Snape appeared, locking his beady eyes onto Longbottom, starting to stride towards him. Longbottom had the self preservation needed to lift his wand.

"Riddikulus!" We watched breathless as he transformed the fear inducing Professor Snape into a drag queen. Laughter bubbled out of the class at the sight and the boggart fled back into its state of indecision.

"Next." The professor called joyously, and everyone happily shifted in line. Lana was a little more cautious than her classmates, but moved none the less. Lana tried getting it off her mind until her turn by looking at the line. There was maybe five people in front of her, most of them already done, only three people just behind her. Of course it wasn't just any three people, it just happened to be the Slytherin Hater and his two best friends. Deciding the boggart was less disturbing than her judgmental peers, she turned back around and watched the line dwindle down to her. Her feet moved for her before she could process the movement, but she didn't dwell on that very long as the orb that was the boggart began to shift.

Lana faced the boggart with morbid curiosity. Before her eyes and everyone there it transformed into a scene from her nightmares. It was herself, only a smaller younger version. The Lana in front of them was sitting on the floor in a ripped dress, crying her eyes out and looking out at her with the most pleading eyes. Before she could stop herself Missy stepped forward ready to reach out to the little version of herself on the floor. A snicker from behind her made Missy aware of exactly where she was and just what was in front of her. Lana, reacting as soon as she processes that everyone can see this morbid scene, tries the spell that will make it all go away,

"Riddikulus!"

Nothing happened but her throat constricted. She tried again, starting to hyperventilate. And yet again. She forced herself to stop, the spell, the breathing, everything. With her face impassive she straightened up and started to hear whispers start around her and with one last glance at the haunting image she gathered her bag that was leaning innocently on the wall and walked quickly out of the class with her head high. The moment she was out the door she heard the Weasley brat loudly complaining that _of course_ it had to be a Slytherin to ruin the fun. As soon as she managed to get to the next hallway over she collapsed in a fit of hysterical tears. Hyperventilating, she barely noticed when someone approached her. Looking up through her cloudy eyes she saw the golden boy himself, shocking her into calming down enough to breathe.

_Golden boy aka Harry Potter: Wizarding World Savior, Gryffindor third year, youngest Seeker on the school quidditch team in one hundred years, enormous hero complex, dreadfully attractive._

Ashamed at the scene she was making she tried to turn away from him, only to have him pick her up. He carried her with ease and in any other situation she would have been melting on the inside. As it was she pressed her face into his neck and tried to stop crying when she suddenly felt them stop moving. He had brought them to an empty classroom, and still holding her, slid down the wall. As she sat in his lap she was comforted enough that she managed to stop crying but waited until she had less of a chance of her voice cracking before she spoke.

"I'm so sorry." It was a whisper, but with her face so close to his ear he heard her well enough. He seemed to hold her tighter for a second.

"Don't say that." He told her forcefully, "He's the one who should be sorry."

"They can't. They can't know." She told him, hating herself for the pathetic crack in her voice. "No one can know."

They sat there for almost an hour while he held her before they both decided they needed to get ready for their next lesson. Standing up, she shot Harry a grateful look and fidgeted nervously,

"Look I meant what I said; they can't ever even suspect something sinister towards me from _him_. If by some miracle I convince the staff not to tell my parents about this, can you promise me you won't try to be the hero?" She asked him anxiously.

"No," He told her and watched her face crumple in agony, "I promise I won't tell anybody the truth but I can't promise I won't try to be your friend through this. Or hero, as you put it." He told her nicely.

He watched her face fill with hope for a second before she ducked her head down and played with the front of her robes nervously.

"So, we can be friends?" She asked before immediately wishing she hadn't and her face flushed a dark red.

"Yeah, we can be friends Missy." He said with a slow smile spreading on his face. He picked up her bag and held it out to her. "C'mon I have an idea to help you out. Let's go see Madam Pomfrey."

Side by side they walked up the six flights of stairs to the hospital wing, plotting quietly the whole way.

Lana woke up slowly, the visage of her dream fresh in her mind. That was the first time she really spoke with Harry Potter. It wasn't the last either. That year they developed quite the partnership and later, friendship. With Lana's pureblood mother it wasn't hard to get information on all things Potter, in fact Lana's mother took quite a shine to Harry and owled him at least once a week about his family history and such. She acted more like Harry's mother than her own but if it made her happy then what's the harm? That year Harry learned all about the notorious Sirius Black, and with her mother's corrupting influence, got him to believe in her conspiracy theory that he was innocent. It turned out to be true, but that's not the point.

That was three years ago and since then Lana and Harry have been each other's support systems. He helped her with her family and emotional crisis' and she helped him with staying alive every year. They were hardly seen away from each other anymore, especially after spending most of the last two summers together. Her parents _really_ like Harry.

"Missy wake up," Speak of the devil, Harry's voice filtered through her bedroom door. Lana glowered at the door, not ready to get up just yet. "Your mom made breakfast." He added not a moment later.

With a sigh she ripped off the covers and yelled, "There better be food waiting for me Mr. Potter, or you'll be my pillow the whole way to Hogwarts today."

She heard his involuntary snort and his sardonic, "Like that wasn't going to happen anyway. You have five minutes to get downstairs. Your mom gave me strict orders to get you down there if you take longer than that."

Lana could hear the smirk in his voice and knew just how much he was looking forward to that. She had half a mind to stay on purpose just to have him caveman carry her downstairs. Anything to have his hands on her really. She heard him tread down the stairs and with a pout decided to just get it over with already. Grumbling the whole way, Lana tripped down the stairs and stumbled her way into the kitchen with bleary eyes.

"Well good morning sleeping beauty, I thought I was going to have to come up and get you." Harry teased before he slumped comfortably in his seat. Lana managed a small grunt of acknowledgment before looking around for food.

"Good morning." Lydia O'Connell chirped, entering the spacious kitchen living room area.

_Lydia O'Connell__**:**__ Mother of three, pureblood, was in Gryffindor when she attended Hogwarts, feared auror, married to muggle Rick O'Connell._

Always the morning person, Mrs. O'Connell usually avoided talking to her daughter, who was decidedly not a morning person. The past few weeks however, she had been most pleased to note that Harry at least was a normal functioning person even before eight o'clock in the morning.

"Morning." Harry replied politely, laughing as Lana merely grunted but dealt with the customary morning kiss on the cheek. Harry suffered through that as well before the morning really started and Rick O'Connell entered the room.

_Rick O'Connell__**:**__ Muggle, father of three, high school graduate, had many jobs since the age of eleven and now with three of his brothers he owns the best car shop in town._

Mr. O'Connell walked into the room as he usually did, silently. It wasn't until he attempted to use a water gun on the practically comatose Lana that he was noticed at all.

"Drop the water gun Old Man, and no one gets hurt." Lana told him without even turning around to face him. With and evil smile and before his wife could do anything but laugh, he was squirting water at both teens.

Lana with a squeal, dove out of her seat and behind the cover of the kitchen island with Harry right behind her.

"Rick O'Connell, I hope you don't expect me to clean this mess up." Mrs. O'Connell joked. Mostly.

Thirty minutes later the battle that had ensued from a playful water gun was ended by the victorious Mrs. O'Connell who wasn't even a player until the last three minutes. The three pouting losers were forced to clean up the mess they had made while The Queen of All as she is now dubbed went to get her nails done.

"This is your entire fault you know." Mr. O'Connell whined to Lana. She balked at him incredulously, dropping her towel before smirking.

"Oh you know what dad? I just forgot that I had to pack some books mom's lending me. You don't mind finishing up here while Harry and I do that do you? Thanks." Missy smiled mischievously before dragging Harry back up the stairs, laughing when her father yelled up at them.

"Well played daughter of mine, but just remember paybacks a bitch!"

* * *

So this story is sort of an experiment. I'm not sure where it's going or anything but I wanted to try a Harry/OC fic. Please review and let me know what you think


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